


cross the line

by VagabondDawn



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Reincarnation, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28946568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VagabondDawn/pseuds/VagabondDawn
Summary: Shikako and Sasuke are adjusting to their new lives in Wizarding England just fine — but first there are some problems that need dealing with.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 397
Collections: Dreaming of Sunshine Exchange 2020 C (Winter Round!), Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection





	cross the line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SlowMercury](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlowMercury/gifts).



"Hey, Myrtle," Shikako says, keeping her voice gentle and unhurried. "Rough day?" 

The third year Ravenclaw — the _alive_ third year Ravenclaw, and she's going to stay that way if Shikako has anything to say about it — hiccups and uses a wad of toilet paper to blow her nose. "Olive Hornby made fun of my glasses," she says, miserably, as if the greatest tragedy in her life is school bullying and not her impending murder. 

Well. She doesn't know about the impending murder, but still. Somedays Shikako feels _really removed_ from the trials of teenagers, despite being one herself. Again. There really ought to be a limit on that kind of thing. 

"That was cruel of her," Shikako says, offering her hand to pull the crying girl to her feet. "But Olive Hornby isn't the one who has to wear them. How do _you_ feel about your glasses?" 

"They're ugly," Myrtle says, eventually, as if she's never considered her own thoughts on it, just what everyone else has to say. "I wish they were prettier. I wish I were prettier." 

"Well, why don't I show you some transfigurations for your glasses while I walk you back to your common room?" Shikako offers, unobtrusively hustling Myrtle out of the bathroom and towards the Ravenclaw tower. "You know no one is supposed to wander around alone, what with all the attacks that are going on." 

Outside the bathroom, the second prefect on patrol duty with her is leaning boredly against the wall. Even after all these years, his English face seems more strange than familiar — but having Sasuke with her makes this whole lifetime feel more like a drawn out infiltration than a new life. As if the two of them are just on some long mission, watching each other's backs. It's a familiar, easy rhythm. Sasuke and Shikako. Hawk and Bat. Gwydion and Carina. 

"I'll walk Myrtle back," she says to him, and behind the girl's back flicks through the hand signs for _prepare ambush._

Sasuke raises a hand in a lazy wave. "Sure," he says. 

Taking Myrtle back to the Ravenclaw Tower doesn't take long, and when Shikako has made her way back to the bathroom, Sasuke is nowhere in sight. 

That's okay. She can feel the water-ripples of disillusionment magic hiding him from sight, ready and waiting for their trap to spring — it's nothing compared to how her sensory skills used to be, but Shikako has spent a lot of time researching and developing charms that might give her even a fraction of her skills back. 

"Showtime," she says, and deliberately trips the charm on the doorway that's almost certainly there to alert Riddle of people going near the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. It's complex and subtle and it had taken her nearly three days of research to come up with a way to fool it and hijack the alerts for herself. 

She turns on a tap — three to the left of the one with the carved snake — and lets the water run, sure that she's dangled some irresistible bait. For the last few months the castle has been on high alert (or at least what _Hogwarts_ calls high alert) with people moving in groups and escorted by teachers. 

If the attacks are intentional then a single person, in the free hours after classes and before dinner… is an opportunity. 

So Shikako is more disappointed than surprised when there are hurried footsteps down the hallway and the spell on the doorway lets her know a person has entered. 

"Hello?" 

"Ah, Riddle," she says without looking up, even though she's mostly sure that the Basilisk isn't with him. There's no sound, no magic, no sense of _presence._ "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be walking around the castle alone at a time like this. Who knows, you might get hurt." 

"I could say the same," Riddle says smoothly. He moves closer and from the corner of her eye she can see a plain covered book in one of his hands, just the right size to be a diary. His wand is out in his other hand. "I heard the water running and was concerned someone was in here." 

"I was just on my patrol," Shikako says calmly. "We ran into a student and had to escort them back to their common room, so I'm waiting to regroup with my patrol partner." 

It isn't a lie. It just implies the complete opposite of what actually happened. 

It says _no one else is coming for a while._

"You're always so diligent," Riddle says and it has the faint edge of mockery to it. 

"That's the key to survival," Shikako quips back, her own mockery buried deeper. The moment stretches, and for a second she thinks he won't do it — that Tom Riddle will turn around and walk away and this whole trap will go unsprung. 

That's the whole point of it. If he doesn't cross the line, if he doesn't try to kill someone and cast dark magic, then he gets to live. 

She'd thought about this, when she'd seen an eleven year old Tom Riddle lined up with the first years. She'd thought about this, when she'd realised where and when she was. She'd thought about it, how easy it would be to remove the problem before it _became_ a problem, thought about it and offered him a _chance_ and _tried_ and offered alternatives and helped… 

And still, they'd wound up here. 

Tom Riddle, would be Lord Voldemort, _hisses._

The sink to her left grinds and drops aways, revealing an empty lightless tunnel. In the far distance there's the sound of rushing movement, something large moving with surprising swiftness. 

She's more disappointed than surprised. 

"That really was a mistake," she says, sighing. The water-ripples of Sasuke's hidden presence vanish down the tunnel, as swift and silent and deadly as an ANBU captain. 

There's a brief moment of incomprehension, before Riddle clearly ignores her statement. "It's a pity it had to be you," he says, and clearly tries to raise his wand. 

It's kind of impressive that it's taken him this long to realise she's already paralysed him. But he reacts smoothly, with a kind of swiftness and battle awareness despite his surprise that few other Hogwarts students could hope to match. 

If he wasn't an evil bastard, she really could have admired his skills. 

" _Finite_ ," he snaps, magic surging in a clearly well practiced display of wandless magic. 

"Impressive," Shikako notes, even as it fails to release her curse. It's not _quite_ shadow possession, but why change what works? A smart wizard might avoid stepping on a trapped tile, but they hardly care where their shadow lands. 

Lazily, she flicks her wand and disarms him, letting his wand and diary fall to the floor without even attempting to catch them. They might be trapped, but either way they're just trash and not worth touching. "Any last words?" 

His eyes dart sideways to the tunnel and she can _see_ his intention to stall until the basilisk arrives. 

"It's not coming," she says. "Didn't you wonder why it was taking so long?" 

The panic in his eyes is wilder now, but he's still sharp and clever. "Impressive," he echoes. "To know even this much about the Serpent of Slytherin. Is that what you are interested in?" 

He dangles the name like bait, like the myth and legend of it might save him. Clever him. He's been paying attention to her and what she likes to study. Foolish him, to think that's enough. Well... 

"If I didn't know what I know, that might work," she says, apologetically. It isn't like she hasn't forgiven people for worse than an attempted murder. But in this case… the risk is really just too high. It would be like trusting Orochimaru, or Danzo. "Don't take it personally." 

She flicks her wand and petrifies him, levitating him and the diary and wand into the air with one smooth movement and heading down the tunnel. The air is oppressive and silent — no hissing or slithering or sounds of fighting. 

Down in the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk is motionless with its eyes covered in fabric tied around its head, and Sasuke is perched atop it, like a hunter posing with a kill. Or actually, she thinks as she steps across the bones of countless rats that litter the floor, that might just be because it's the cleanest place to sit. 

Tom Riddle, beneath the petrification, makes a noise of rage at the sight. 

"All done?" Shikako asks. 

"Not even a scratch on it," Sasuke says, sounding a little bored. That wouldn't have been a dealbreaker but the fewer _where did this sword wound come from_ questions people ask, the better. 

"Perfect," Shikako says, and nudges the head of the beast until the fangs are exposed. 

Then, unceremoniously, she levitates Riddle closer until he pricks a hand on the poison fang, and then lets him fall to the ground. After a moment of consideration, she does the same to the diary, watching impassively as the pages bubble with dark magic and bleed ink. 

It might not have been a horcrux _yet_ but who knew what the preparations alone could do? Better to destroy it while she had the chance. 

"Is this really going to be enough?" Sasuke asks, doubtfully, as she drops copies of _Moste Potente Potions_ and _Draughts Darkest and Deadliest_ , with every page that called for basilisk venom marked and folded. "Even a genin would see through this." 

"But would a wizard?" Shikako asks. "A student, doing something stupid and illegal and getting killed because of it… something that the school really ought to responsible for, like having a giant monster in the basement and not knowing about it… do you really think they're going to investigate very much?" 

Sasuke sighs, giving her the _this would never fly in Konoha_ look that the two of them have been swapping for years. "You have a compelling argument. So what now?" 

"I'll go get the Head Girl and tell her we found an open secret passage in the girls bathroom. McGonagall will take it from there." 

McGonagall would take it to the Head of Gryffindor, Professor Dumbledore, who would at the very least investigate it before closing it, unlike a significant portion of the other teachers. Though that outcome wouldn't have been _terrible_ either — the mysterious disappearance of a student wouldn't implicate the two of them either. 

Either way, the future is on a whole new path now. 

"Mission complete," Shikako says. 


End file.
